How Do Early-life Factors Explain Social Inequalities in Adolescent Mental Health? Findings from the UK Millennium Cohort Study

Overview

Journal J Epidemiol Community Health

Specialty Health Services

Date 2019 Sep 8

PMID 31492761

Citations 27

Authors

Viviane S Straatmann

Eric Lai

Theis Lange

Melisa Claire Campbell

Sophie Wickham

Anne-Marie Nybo Andersen

Katrine Strandberg-Larsen

David Taylor-Robinson

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Reducing inequalities in adolescent mental health is a public health priority, yet the pathways that link social conditions to mental health outcomes in the early years are unclear. We aimed to evaluate the extent to which early years risk factors explain social inequalities in adolescent mental health in the UK.

Methods: We analysed data from 6509 children captured in the UK Millennium Cohort Study. Mental health was assessed through the socioemotional behavioural problems at age 14 (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire). The main exposure was maternal education at birth, used as a measure of childhood socioeconomic conditions (SECs), and used to calculate the relative index of inequality. Using causal mediation analysis, we assessed how perinatal, individual child, family, peer relation and neighbourhood-level factors measured up to age 3-mediated the total effect (TE) of SECs on adolescent socioemotional behavioural problems, estimating the proportion mediated and natural indirect effect (NIE) via each block of mediators, and all mediators together.

Results: Children of mothers with no qualification were almost four times as likely to have socioemotional behavioural problems compared with degree plus level (relative risk (RR) 3.82, 95% CI 2.48 to 5.88). Overall, 63.9% (95% CI 50.2% to 77.6%) (NIE RR 1.97, 95% CI 1.63 to 2.37) of the TE (RR 4.40, 95% CI 3.18 to 6.07) of social inequalities on risk of adolescent socioemotional behavioural problems was mediated by early-life factors.

Conclusions: About two-thirds of the social inequality in adolescent mental health was explained by early risk factors measured by age 3, highlighting the importance of public health interventions in this period.

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